Combination container for cigarettes and matches



June 21, 1 938. c, GRAY 2,121,500

I COMBINATION CONTAINER FOR CIGARETTES AND- MATCHES Filed Oct. 14, 1937 Patented June 21, 1938 UNITED STATES COMBINATION CONTAINER FOR OIGA- RETTES AND MATCHES Clarence Elmer Gray, St. Petersburg, Fla. Application October 14, 1937, Serial No. 169,039

i Claim.

'The object of my invention is a combination container for cigarettes and matches that is practical from every viewpoint, i. e., so inexpensive of manufacture, in one or more forms, as to make possible its use as an original container by the manufacturers of ready-made cigarettes, even to the extent that it will not be necessary for an entire new set-up of cigarette packing and cigarette package-wrapping apparatus; and still a container that can equally well be made and used as an accessory for cigarette smokers, and manufactured in such varying degree of expensiveness and attractiveness as to satisfy the most fastidious individual.

Further, a container, while it is a combination container for cigarettes and matches and can rightfully be called so by any manufacturer or dealer using same, in which the matches may be placed at any time after manufacture of said container, and by any person through whose hands it passes or ultimately comes to use.

Still further, a combination cigarette and match container, with or without its complement of matches that is symmetric of lines and surfaces. With or without said matches in this container, there is no bulge, protrusion, offset, or irregular line of, or on, any of the eight edges and six sides of said container to interfere in any way with the packing of the cigarettes, wrapping of the complete unit, handling in or out of cartons, or the stacking on stock shelves, counters, or in or on racks, in any position. With said containers complement of matches and twenty or more cigarettes, it will nicely fit into any average pocket in mens shirts, trousers, vests and coats, and also any womens purses and handbags, without the amount of bulge occasioned by the presence of a package of twenty cigarettes as in general and common use today.

And still further, a combination cigarette and match container that will better protect its contents of both cigarettes and matches from ordinary depreciation, wear and tear, and such other elements of destruction as would, within reasonable limits, bend, break, crumble, crumple, dampen, or in any other manner make, or cause contents of said containers to be made useless, between the time they are packaged in said containers and such time as may reasonably be expected will be required for said contents to be used by ultimate consumers. It is also obvious that the annoyance of continually having tobacco crumbsin ones pockets and/or purses will be eliminated by carrying ones supply of cigarettes in these containers.

Figure l is a drawing of the bottom of abovementioned cigarette and match container, and

Figure 2 is a cross-section drawing along the line 2 2, Fig. 1, showing arrangement of cigarettes and a package of matches. This container is especially designed to accommodate twenty cigarettes and a package of matches commonly known as book or paper matches, and can be made of any material from cardboard to gold-plated metals.

In the bottom of this container and from the outside, is an indentation of such varying depth as to form a receptable for the wedge-shaped book matches. Said indentation, extending into that part of container which encloses the cigarettes, thereby displaces one row or layer of cigarettes for such distance, longitudinally in said row or layer of cigarettes, as to permit said indentation to be of sufficient size, within said indentation itself, as to fully enclose a package of book matches without any part or portion of said matches and/or their respective container extending outward from, or protruding upward above the plane of the outside surface of the bottom of said cigarette container. Said indentation can be of varying widths, up to the width of the whole container, so as to accommodate, as to number of matches, different sized packages of matches. No additional flap or cover will be required to hold the package of matches in its receptacle as it can either be so held by adhesive, or a strap or clip I can be incorporated across the. bottom of receptacle, Fig. 1, or a portion or portions of the bottom of receptacle can be cut and raised to accomplish the same thing, under which the cover of said book matches can be inserted and drawn under until the matches and their container are in proper position in their receptacle.

The two side walls 2 and end walls 3 and 4 of indentation forming the match receptacle, are sloping or rounding for distinct reasons, i. e., (1) to conform to shape of those cigarettes within the container that will be packed adjoining end walls 3 and 4; (2) side walls 2--to better facilitate the opening and closing of match package cover, 5, Fig. 2; (3) end wall 3to permit match package cover 5 to bend back farther from heads of matches thereby affording more room in which to grasp an individual match for detaching from assembly; (4) end wall 4to facilitate the entering of match package cover 5 under strap l in bottom of receptacle, and the removal from receptacle of empty match packages.

Due to the fact that book matches, together with their containers, are wedge-shaped as mention-ed above, and that the indentation in the bottom of above-mentioned combination container, which forms the receptacle for said matches, is therefore of varying depths, it follows that the space occupied within that part of the cigarette container that embraces said match receptacle indentation is v of varying thickness, hence, the space occupied by the shallow portion of the match receptacle does not fully occupy, or take up, the space, 6, Fig. 2, made available by a certain number of cigarettes, in the bottom row or layer of cigarettes, that are totally displaced by the presence of match receptacle indentation. It then follows that a certain number of cigarettes may drop down a certain distance until they come to rest on the shallow portion of the match receptacle, hence, there is an unevenness of, or depression, in the top row or layer of cigarettes, throughout their entire length, which in turn amounts to an unoccupied space, for the Width of a certain number of cigarettes, between the top row of cigarettes and the inside surface of the cover of the whole container.

In order to hold those cigarettes up in the top row or layer of cigarettes that would naturally drop down as above-stated and hence cause an unevenness in the top row or layer of cigarettes (a matter of appearance only), a piece of cardboard stock I the same width as the length of the bottom of the match receptacle, and the same length as the inside width of the cigarette container, with ends turned down a distance equal to the thickness of a cigarette, also equal to the greatest depth of the match receptacle, is shown in Fig. 2. In all probability this piece of cardboard, or any other means to accomplish the same result, would not be used in practice, as there is so little to be gained by so doing, even in the appearance of the package when opened.

Although Fig. 2 shows the bottom of the match receptacle diverging from the medial plane of the cigarette box it should be understood that the showing in Fig. 2 is exaggerated to illustrate the tapering formation of the match receptacle and that in the actual construction the degree of slope away from the medial plane is only slight.

In view of the above-mentioned and described invention, I claim:

A cigarette box, generally rectangular in shape, having an open top and lid therefor, said box being of such depth as to accommodate two rows or layers of cigarettes, and said box having a portion of its bottom deformed upwardly to form within the confines of the box an externally accessible receptacle for receiving and accommodating a conventional package of book or paper matches, the bottom of said receptacle being located substantially in the medial plane of said cigarette box in such position that the upper layer of cigarettes will be maintained substantially flush with the top edges of the cigarette box, said receptacle bottom sloping somewhat so that when a conventional package of matches is housed in said receptacle the front or outer surface of said package of matches will be substantially flush with the outer surface of the bottom of the cigarette box.

CLARENCE ELMER GRAY. 

